What contributed to the 2004 death of Dan Markinson? This nagging question has been asked ever since the troubled 26-year old committed suicide while participating in a clinical trial that was run by University of Minnesota researchers. The ensuing years have produced a lawsuit by his mother and probes that went nowhere amid charges of conflicts of interest and mismanagement at the school. Now, a group of 171 academics have sent a letter asking the Faculty Senate, which is the governing body, to run a public investigation. Their hope is to pressure on the university - which has repeatedly dodged blame despite hounding from some of its faculty – while also shedding light on clinical trial enrollment practices and improving the integrity of medical research at medical schools.